Serbia & Montenegro Advance To Semi-Finals

The victory sees them advance to Saturday's semi-final where they will face hosts Russia.

Uros Tripkovic

Serbia & Montenegro were always favourites in a game in which the winner would grab the last semi-final spot. They have looked strong the whole tournament, with their only loss coming in a close contest against Lithuania.

France, meanwhile, have been patchy at best as witnessed by two heavy losses to Russia and Lithuania.

Nonetheless, with the semi-final spot up for grabs, both teams needed to be at their best and after 30 minutes, there was little to separate the two sides.

It was in the third that Serbia & Montenegro began to assert themselves and it was star players Luka Bogdanovic and Uros Tripkovic who inflicted most of the damage.

Serbia & Montenegro outscored France 18-11 in the period with Bogdanovic and Tripkovic combining for 15 of those points. They led 37-53 going into the fourth leaving France with an uphill struggle.

France rallied in the final period, but never came closer than 7 points and Serbia & Montenegro held on for the win.